Youth Today, September 7, 2016: Afterschool Alliance Report: Add After-School Programs to High-Poverty Areas to Close Achievement Gap

“More than 20 million children live in areas of concentrated poverty in the United States, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures. Many children in these high-need areas are not being served by the very programs that could help them do better in school and in their lives, according to a new report by the Afterschool Alliance. Only one in four children in poor neighborhoods is enrolled in an after-school program, said Jen Rinehart, vice president of policy and research for the Afterschool Alliance. ‘Lots more would be enrolled if programs were available,’ she said. The information is based on a survey or more than 30,000 households as part of the organization’s America After 3PM survey. More than half of children in areas of concentrated poverty who are not enrolled in after-school program would be if programs were available, the survey showed.”